Ginobili’s injury allows other backups to shine

PHILADELPHIA — Life without Manu Ginobili has yet to cost the Spurs a victory, but it has had a dramatic effect on the team’s bench production.

With Ginobili averaging 12.9 points per game in 36 contests, all of them as the team’s sixth man, the Spurs lead the NBA in bench production at 41.2 points per game. In the three games the two-time All-Star has missed since suffering a strained left hamstring Jan. 13, the Spurs’ scoring off the bench has dropped to 30.3 points per game.

Until the return of Ginobili, who was projected Jan. 14 to be out 10 to 14 days, coach Gregg Popovich will have to continue to make do with who’s available.

Matt Bonner, who had played 15 minutes total in the five games before Saturday’s in Atlanta, responded with some increased playing time in a 98-93 win.

He connected on 7 of 8 shots — including 3 for 3 from 3-point range — for a season-high 17 points in 23 minutes.

With Tim Duncan also sitting out SaturdayPopovich gave DeJuan Blair nearly 20 minutes of court time. Blair, who had seven points and seven rebounds, hadn’t played that much since a Dec. 10 win in Houston.

It’s just what Tony does: Forward Boris Diaw has seen the evolution of Tony Parker’s game since the two were teens in Paris, which makes him the Spurs’ resident expert on the point guard’s variety of shots.

So while others struggled to describe an especially acrobatic, high-arching bank shot Parker made in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s victory, Diaw merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Honestly, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” he said. “It’s just what Tony does, and he has been doing that for a long time.”

Parker said he has learned to get up shots from a lot of different angles while falling down.

“That’s what I do best: go to the paint and try to create,” he said. “I felt comfortable, and when I go to the basket, I always feel I can get a shot up, either my teardrop or layups.”

Knocked to the floor on the play by Atlanta’s Jeff Teague, Parker expected to be awarded a free throw, but no foul was called.

“The referee told me after the game he should have called it,” Parker said. “Then he told me, ‘Great basket.’ I would have liked the foul call better.”